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Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network: The Venezuelan people have spoken! Respect the democratic process!

The Venezuelan people have spoken: Nicolas Maduro is president

End the opposition violence! Respect the democratic process!

No US-backed intervention in Venezuela!

April 17, 2013 -- The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network joins with all those
voices for democracy and peace to call for an immediate end to the
opposition-initiated violence now occurring in Venezuela.

On April 14, a majority of Venezuelans voted for the United Socialist
Party of Venezuela’s (PSUV) presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro. In
doing so, they voted to continue the Bolivarian revolution previously
led by Hugo Chávez.

Venezuela has one of the most transparent and secure voting systems
in the world and the presidential elections were, according to all
independent observers, free, fair and constitutional. The election
result must be respected.

President-elect Maduro won with 50.75% of the vote, against 48.98%
for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, a margin of 1.77% (262.473
votes). Of the 24 states and regional entities, Maduro won a majority in
16. The voter turnout was 79.8%, higher than most other countries ever
achieve.

It was a close vote, but election results in other countries,
including the USA, have been much closer and the result has been
accepted. The right-wing opposition in Venezuela, however, acting like a
law unto itself, is refusing to accept the democratic outcome.

Hours before the results were announced, Capriles was attempting to
discredit a Maduro victory by claiming on his Twitter account that the
government was planning to “change the results”. When opposition MP
Maria Corina Machado accused the government of fraud and told supporters
to “defend the vote”, she was in effect calling on them to actively
defy the outcome of the democratic process.

Despite an electronic recount reaffirming Maduro as the victor,
Capriles is continuing to refuse to recognise the will of the Venezuelan
people and is calling for street protests. The opposition leaders are
inciting a dangerous situation, with opposition supporters attacking
National Electoral Council (CNE) offices, torching PSUV headquarters and
attacking individual supporters of the revolution.

An attempt on April 15 to take over the state TV channel, VTV, failed.

The government has accused the opposition of plotting a coup to
overturn the government and ignore the vote. This possibility is not
far-fetched: the US-backed right-wing in Venezuela has attempted coups
before, and just three days before the election, early morning raids by
government security forces uncovered a group of Colombian paramilitaries
in possession of Venezuelan military uniforms, C4 explosives and 50
high capacity assault rifle magazines.

The Union of South American Nations’ electoral accompaniment mission,
which was present throughout the electoral process, has called for the
CNE’s official results to be respected. Most Latin American governments
have formally congratulated Maduro on the victory.

Yet the imperialist powers have so far given tacit support to the Venezuelan opposition’s destabilisation campaign.

The European Union claims that “it is important that the result be
accepted by all”. The United States administration is citing “the narrow
margin of victory and the opposition’s dissent with the result” to
support Capriles’ demand a full recount of the vote.

In no other democratic country could a political leader who lost an
election and has absolutely no proof of electoral fraud simply refuse to
accept the outcome and expect to receive support from the world’s major
powers.

But imperialism has a lot riding on political developments in
Venezuela. The US, in particular, was hoping that this election would
open the door to reversing the anti-capitalist revolution that has
survived and strengthened for more than a decade. Instead, the
Chavistas’ win paves the way for another six years of developing
socialism for the 21st century.

In the words of Maduro: “The media myth that our political project
would fall apart without Chávez was a fundamental misreading of
Venezuela's revolution. Chávez has left a solid edifice, its foundation a
broad, united movement that supports the process of transformation.
We've lost our extraordinary leader, but his project – built
collectively by workers, farmers, women, indigenous peoples,
Afro-descendants and the young – is more alive than ever.”

In voting for Maduro, the Venezuelan majority voted for a process
that has massively reduced poverty, increased ordinary Venezuelans’
health and education, reduced unemployment and given the poor majority
an active role in politics and society. They voted against a return to a
past of neoliberal policies that favoured transnational capital at the
expense of people's basic needs, and which was imposed through massive
repression.

There are many major challenges facing the Bolivarian revolution –
Maduro spoke in his victory speech about the persistent problems of
bureaucracy, crime and corruption, for example –
but to be able to
tackle these problems, Venezuela’s democracy and revolution must be
successfully defended against this current attempt to destroy it.

Capriles was a key player in the failed 2002 coup against then
President Chavez. It seems clear that he is once again prepared to use
violence and repression to try to overthrow a government and destroy
democracy.

While the opposition lost the vote on April 14, it still controls
most of the wealth of the country, as well as the majority of the media,
and the Venezuelan people will need the active solidarity of all those
internationally who value democracy, freedom, justice and peace to
ensure that they are able to carry out the popular will that was
expressed in these elections.

The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network will act in solidarity
with the Venezuelan government and people to achieve that goal. It also
calls on the Australian government to come out immediately and
recognise the election of Maduro as the president of choice of the
Venezuelan people.